Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adapter for a closed system transfer assembly that permits fluid delivery from a first fluid container to a second fluid container through the adapter. More specifically, the invention is directed an adapter with a connection arrangement for engaging and disengaging the adapter from the fluid container.
Description of Related Art
Healthcare workers, such as pharmacists and nurses, can be subject to acute and long term health risks upon repeated exposure to drugs or solvents which might escape into the air during drug preparation, drug administration, and other similar handling. This problem is particularly serious when cytotoxins, antiviral drugs, antibiotics, and radiopharmaceuticals are concerned. The health risks faced by exposure to these drugs can include the development of cancer, reproductive problems, genetic conditions, and other serious concerns. Other hazardous areas may be sample taking, such as samples concerning virus infections or the like. When performing infusions, it is often necessary to inject a drug or other medical substance into the infusion fluid, inside an infusion bag or other infusion fluid container. This is often done by means of penetrating a septum or other fluid barrier of an injection port on the infusion bag or on the infusion fluid line with a needle of a syringe filled with the medical fluid in question. However, even before this, it may be necessary to transfer the medical fluid from a vial to a syringe and then from the syringe to a secondary container. In each of these steps, staff may be exposed to the medical fluid by means of contamination. Such contamination may be vaporized medical fluid or aerosol in the air. The contaminations may contaminate the staff through their lungs, or by vaporized medical fluid or aerosol in the air which condensates on the skin to thereafter penetrate the skin of the staff. Some medicaments are even known to penetrate protection gloves and thereby contaminate the staff.
Exposure to contaminations like this may, on a long term basis, give rise to alarmingly high concentrations of medicaments in the blood or the human body of the staff as described above. It has been understood that, due to the many transferring steps between e.g., vials, syringes, infusion systems, etc., the risk for contamination during the actual insertion and retraction of a needle from the container, e.g., a vial, needs to be contained. Closed system transfer devices (CSTD) have been developed to ensure that the medicament is contained in the transfer device during transfer of the medicament.
Generally, a CSTD includes an adapter (referred to hereinafter as a syringe adapter) for connection to a first fluid container, such as a syringe, and a second adapter (referred to hereinafter as a vial adapter) for connection to a vial, a second syringe, or a conduit providing fluid access to the patient's circulatory system. According to one arrangement, the healthcare practitioner may reconstitute a powdered or lyophilized compound with saline or some other reconstitution medium by attaching the syringe to the vial through the syringe adapter and the vial adapter. The practitioner reconstitutes the drug, aspirates the compound into the syringe, disconnects the adapters, and then attaches the syringe adapter and syringe attached thereto to a patient delivery device, such as an IV line or syringe, for administration to the patient.
One type of syringe adapter that can be used in a CSTD has a proximal end with a male or female luer-lock element that is arranged to be joined with a corresponding female or male luer-lock element of the syringe. The luer-lock element can be screwed into and unscrewed from the corresponding luer-lock element. It is desirable to prevent accidental or inadvertent unscrewing of the components, which could lead to the disconnection of the fluid passageway extending through the adapter. Such disconnection may result in a serious contamination risk for a patient and/or any other person in the vicinity of the disconnected CSTD. The issue of safety in administration of hazardous medical compounds is one that has been identified as being of critical importance by professional organizations and government agencies alike.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a syringe adapter for enabling fluid transfer from the syringe to the syringe adapter, vial adapter, and second fluid container by facilitating a positive connection of the connectors and avoiding inadvertent or accidental disconnection of the syringe and fluid connector. Specifically, it is desirable that the syringe and syringe adapter may be connected together via a simple intuitive connection activity. However, the steps for disconnecting the syringe from the syringe adapter should be more complex so that inadvertent or accidental disconnection is discouraged.